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BeyondBlue Hello! Read this if you're not sure how to get started
  • replies: 0

Welcome This section of the Beyond Blue Forums is for talking about our experiences with depression. There are lots of chats about how it makes us feel, what it’s like to live with depression and what has worked to help in these times. Thank you for ... View more

Welcome This section of the Beyond Blue Forums is for talking about our experiences with depression. There are lots of chats about how it makes us feel, what it’s like to live with depression and what has worked to help in these times. Thank you for coming this far, we know it can be really hard to take these steps if depression is in your life - we see you and think this is a great step. To get the most out of this space we have a few tips: Get involved. The Forums work best for you when you get active and post where you can. Now, we know that can be really hard, especially when you are experiencing depression. So, if you can post something supportive to someone else here, that would be an incredible start. Speak from the heart. This community wants to know how YOU feel and what has worked for YOU. We trust that you have something unique to say and we can’t wait to hear it. Check in. Lots of the discussions in this section of the Forums have been going for years and they are some of the richest conversations we have. Keep checking in to get new ideas and offer your support. We know it can be tough to start, but when you are ready we want to hear your thoughts. If you need some time to get to know the community, that's okay! Have a look around and see where you want to get involved. Thank you for being here! Beyond Blue

Jeriava How do I talk to my doctor?
  • replies: 9

I’ve been struggling with my life for the past 7-8 years but I finally made an appointment with a doctor. I feel really scared though because I don’t ever go to the doctor for anything, and I havent seen this doctor for so many years that I’m really ... View more

I’ve been struggling with my life for the past 7-8 years but I finally made an appointment with a doctor. I feel really scared though because I don’t ever go to the doctor for anything, and I havent seen this doctor for so many years that I’m really scared that they’ll judge me or won’t believe anything I say. I’m really anti social so I feel like I won’t be able to say what I wanna say or I’ll say the wrong thing causing them to just dismiss me and move me along without helping. I’m just tired of feeling alone, depressed and just worthless but I’m really scared to talk to them.

AGrace SELF HELP TIPS FOR MANAGING DEPRESSION
  • replies: 132

Hi Everyone, Here are some ideas you might like to try for managing symptoms of depression. Of course everyone's different, so let us know what works for you, and please feel free to add to the list... Mindfulness – through breathing or engaging the ... View more

Hi Everyone, Here are some ideas you might like to try for managing symptoms of depression. Of course everyone's different, so let us know what works for you, and please feel free to add to the list... Mindfulness – through breathing or engaging the 5 senses Distress Tolerance – Accepting Emotions and Self Soothing Distraction – Put the thoughts/feelings aside and come back to them when you are ready to deal with them Positive Affirmations – Have some affirmations written down repeat them to yourself daily Sleep/Exercise/Diet – All 3 aspects of our lifestyle can impact the way we think/feel Increasing Pleasurable Activities – Engage in at least one pleasurable activity per day

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Bee1998 I hate the way I feel, and half the time I don't know why I'm feeling this way
  • replies: 2

I constantly feel frustrated inside, like I'm missing something and i don't know what it is. I have overwhelming feelings rush through me most days, which include agitation, anger, frustration, sadness, emptiness, loneliness, confusion, worry..... It... View more

I constantly feel frustrated inside, like I'm missing something and i don't know what it is. I have overwhelming feelings rush through me most days, which include agitation, anger, frustration, sadness, emptiness, loneliness, confusion, worry..... It's hard to explain, but even now as I'm typing this, I feel like weird rush of frustration through my body. It's almost as if I need to punch a wall, have sex, do drugs, or all of the above at the same time. It sounds silly, but that's the best way of describing it. It's like i'm never satisfied with life, and nothing interests me or excites me anymore. I'm constantly bored and wanting to go and do things, but am unable to due to my lack of friends. Today I got so bored that I resorted to drinking alcohol. Even just thinking of things I could do frustrated me, or just didn't interest me. I would have liked to have gone to the beach with a friend or something, but I don't have anyone to ask. Even if I did that though, it would just be to pass time... I still would feel empty. I just want to scream and cry and kick and punch. I don't know what is wrong with me.

RupertTurtleMan Life of the Party but Alone
  • replies: 3

I got diagnosed with ADHD earlier in the year and started working on myself and lost heaps of weight, started working out etc and got really into shape, and became sober. I feel healthy, have a great job, and people like having me around because I am... View more

I got diagnosed with ADHD earlier in the year and started working on myself and lost heaps of weight, started working out etc and got really into shape, and became sober. I feel healthy, have a great job, and people like having me around because I am the life if the party, and I go with the flow but I still feel alone. I am far more productive, the other issues my ADHD was causing pretty much went away, but still I feel alone and empty. The only thing that makes me genuinely feel happy is playing with my son, and really is the only reason I get out of bed in the morning and follow my routine. I've felt like this on and off for years, and it genuinely did get better when I became sober and started working in myself but still this persists, and I don't really have anyone to talk to since I just have to "man up".

AceCowboy I feel like I can't talk to anyone, because I feel I'm not being listened
  • replies: 4

As the title says, I've found myself in a rut that I cannot seem to find a way out of. I suffer from anxiety and depression, and I have serious trust issues stemming from mental abuse from my mother. I also feel like I've failed in life, as I have ba... View more

As the title says, I've found myself in a rut that I cannot seem to find a way out of. I suffer from anxiety and depression, and I have serious trust issues stemming from mental abuse from my mother. I also feel like I've failed in life, as I have basically given up any interest I've had because of toxic people, with nobody there to help me or encourage me to continue. Even now, I'm overweight, no matter how much exercise and dieting I do. Work at a horrible job where people are trying to get me fired. And no friends/relationships to talk to. I've been to 3 different therapists, and all 3 have not helped. Every time I try to talk to someone about it, I mostly get people disinterested to hear it, or they downplay what I say as "attention seeking" or stupid. The very few people that will listen, I feel they are not seeing things how I describe it, and tend to go in circles around the issue and ultimately not getting anywhere. Only for them at times to get fed up and claim "I'm don't want their advice". Sometimes I feel like maybe my mother was right, that I'm worthless and people would be better off if I were gone

Lonely_Cookie Lonely and empty
  • replies: 7

Hi Even though I am married with kids I feel so empty and lonely. I have never been great at making friends or keeping them, as a child/teenager I was always to scared to bring friends home because you never knew when my dad was in a good or bad mood... View more

Hi Even though I am married with kids I feel so empty and lonely. I have never been great at making friends or keeping them, as a child/teenager I was always to scared to bring friends home because you never knew when my dad was in a good or bad mood and he is the type of person that thought everyone should think and believe in what he did and looked down on those who didn’t. So it was easier just not to have friends. I am now in my late 30’s but I have spent the whole time until I was about 23 when I moved out of home, not having friends or at least A very few for a short time but no real close friends . Since being married and having Kids I am finding even harder to make or spend time with anyone in order to have any friends, so I pretty much gave up trying to keep any friendship. I had and the couple of people who I thought were my friends never made contact with me after I mentally decided not to try any more. My husband doesn’t drive as he has poor eyesight so I have to drive him to and from work and because he works weekends only, I feel I can’t do anything because if I do I’ll have to stop part way through to pick him up from work. He works weekends and I work during the week, so we never see each other, other then a couple of hours at night but then I’m dealing with kids, so no quality time together, which makes me feel even more lonely and empty. I am also finding I’m holding a lot of resentment towards my husband because of this but also because he doesn’t work during the week he spends time every week with his friends Playing games even if he has the kids he just lets them run wild and destroy everything while he plays his games. Because I’ve never had a close friends or family members I’ve never been able to talk to people about how I feel, this includes my husband and I feel Because if my insecurities with relationships I feel I’m holding my kids back as well and doing them more harm then good, which makes me wonder if they would be better off with out me.

Blackknight So many things happening
  • replies: 4

Hi all, For a while now I have been feeling quite sad, hopeless, etc. I am always tired, even with a 9 hour + of sleeping, I am struggling to keep up with work with how tired I am being. I have lost interest in things I loved doing, I am hardly socia... View more

Hi all, For a while now I have been feeling quite sad, hopeless, etc. I am always tired, even with a 9 hour + of sleeping, I am struggling to keep up with work with how tired I am being. I have lost interest in things I loved doing, I am hardly social with any of my friends. I had just recently broke up with my girlfriend that lives so far away and I hardly got to see her. We couldn't do it due to the distance. I hated that I had to do it , it was just too hard. I just want to be able to feel that happiness I did years ago, I am slowly becoming more social and meeting new people.

chrisau I feel like I'm about to die
  • replies: 7

Hi, I'm Chris. I suffer from depression. Sometimes I have a sense of emptiness in my life, often associated with the feeling that something very bad is going to happen, like that I will die in a few days, even if I have no reasons to believe that. Is... View more

Hi, I'm Chris. I suffer from depression. Sometimes I have a sense of emptiness in my life, often associated with the feeling that something very bad is going to happen, like that I will die in a few days, even if I have no reasons to believe that. Is this a normal symptom of depression? How can I deal with the sense of emptiness and the feeling that something bad is going to happen? Any response will be appreciated.

Enterprise Not brave enough to fix depression
  • replies: 4

Hi. I’ve been depressed for twelve years now. I’m sure some of you can relate. When it first started as a teenager, I made the mistake of talking to people about it. I was told everything from I’m lying and making it up to there’s nothing wrong with ... View more

Hi. I’ve been depressed for twelve years now. I’m sure some of you can relate. When it first started as a teenager, I made the mistake of talking to people about it. I was told everything from I’m lying and making it up to there’s nothing wrong with my life and I should just get over it. So I stopped talking about it. And now I don’t know how to talk about it. I think I should talk to someone. But I can’t. If I tell my family, they’ll say the same things they did before. I can’t tell a professional because if I even mention suicide they say they’ll be forced to report me to the authorities. And the authorities will tell my family. Even if my family finally accept I have depression, they won’t help me. They’ll throw me out. I probably deserve that. Maybe I should leave anyway. I don’t have anywhere to go but being homeless can’t be any worse than living a lie, right? I don’t know. Maybe someone here has lived through something similar, and you can tell me if there’s any hope. Thank you for reading my post.

killetti recovering from a covert narcissist parent
  • replies: 4

i broke down at the end of last year, my mental health, and the pressures of the end of the year overwhelmed me. i basically cired for 4 days straight. Now its the new year and i'm lucky to be working from home but i dont feel fully ready. I have no ... View more

i broke down at the end of last year, my mental health, and the pressures of the end of the year overwhelmed me. i basically cired for 4 days straight. Now its the new year and i'm lucky to be working from home but i dont feel fully ready. I have no leave.... so i'd have to take unpaid leave, and i can't see my dr or psych yet, they are on leave. i'm on struggle street. my emotions are welling up i feel insecure and vulnerable, and unable to concentrate. i can "try harder" but at the moment work is quiet, and i need to be self directed to get things done and i'd rather 'look after me' and be a puddle on the couch. its a fine line, whats unreasonable? what's selfish? what do you just push on through? I'm an adult dealing with the discovery that my mother was a covert narcissist, and every holidays i have to process this because im supposed to see her. i've made breakthroughs over this holiday realising she has gaslit and abused me for my whole life, i dont owe her any more. but its hard, i am much closer to believing that. but its hard. even thinking about it is hurting. and processing what this means for my (dead) father who was passive through all this), my relationship and memories of him while i'm still grieving for him (6 years gone). there's so myuch betrayal and hurt to process. we were told we were a perfect family, and when i complained it was my fault... and i like me now, but with covid and everything else going on i'm scared, i'm tired, i'm finding it difficult to maintain equilibrium. my feelings are harder to just put in a box or breathe and rerlax away, because there's so much to "deal with" and process. and i want to get better, not repress and depress and get worse?I have friends at work and in my personal life but i'm otherwise completely alone, no family. and its a lot for my friends to support me through. and my work are asking how my mum is and its like... well.... google "covert narcissist parents"

Rob_1994 I've been taught to think negatively
  • replies: 4

Hi everyone. My last post was an introduction of myself and my difficulties to express how I feel on a day to day basis. That post was 5 months ago so it took me quite a while to reflect. I believe the best word to sum it all is "Negativity". I feel ... View more

Hi everyone. My last post was an introduction of myself and my difficulties to express how I feel on a day to day basis. That post was 5 months ago so it took me quite a while to reflect. I believe the best word to sum it all is "Negativity". I feel like I've been taught to think negatively but not directly. It was my experience in school that makes me believe this, from kindergarten all the way up to year 12. I had indifferences with both students and teachers, spent all my school life alone and fending for myself but yet I had no one to really give me any motivation. I've never achieved academically and just remained at the bottom of the barrel, I was more concerned that I wasn't able to get along with anyone in primary school. I was hoping high school would be a fresh start but it got worse throughout the years. I didn't improve academically and I was bullied for it by classmates. Even though teachers expect their students to get help from them, I had trouble with this mainly because of their hostile attitude towards me. I was clearly a bad listener in class and all I just got from teachers were threats if I couldn't keep up, I was threaten with expulsion by my principle. I found it hard overtime to interact with others because I developed a thinking process that convinces me to avoid people because I'm awkward, pathetic and a bad listener who's seems disinterested. I'll be 28 in April this year and till this day, I'm scared of people and communication is poor. I still linger on the past because it's 18 years of nothing but bad memories and nothing has changed for me. I'm still a bad listener, I have a distaste for anyone who comes near me and I absolutely have no ambition to try new things, challenge myself or take risks due to my fear of failure. I'm a negative thinker because of bad history and I'm stuck in it. The frustrating thing is I want to improve, I want to be able to go out and communicate, I want to develop new skills so I can pursue a great career but it's too overwhelming for me because all these negative thoughts keep coming back to haunt me. I hope I'm posting this in the right forum since I consider negativity a symptom of depression. The idea that you can never amount to anything and taking on responsibilities feels scary.

Boymum88 I cant get off this round-a-bout
  • replies: 2

Help! Busy mum of 3, working FT, relationship of 10 years. Previously diagnosed with depression & anxiety and recently feeling really crappy. Work is stressful. Life is stressful. Covid is stressful. My partner is REALLY trying to help us reconnect a... View more

Help! Busy mum of 3, working FT, relationship of 10 years. Previously diagnosed with depression & anxiety and recently feeling really crappy. Work is stressful. Life is stressful. Covid is stressful. My partner is REALLY trying to help us reconnect and be intimate. I understand what and why hes doing it, my little efforts go unnoticed. My energy is constantly being put into work (management position, supporting others constantly) my kids and i admit my relationship is always bottom of my list despite knowing i need him and want him around. Im pushing him away! I am so tired, all the time. Im so exhausted. Id rather starve than make myself something to eat. I would rather cry in the shower than watch a movie with my kids. Im exhausted from pretending to be ok and maintain this superstar attitude at work. I want to quit it all! I see the effort my partner is making, i see he is trying but i dont know how to respond. Im so disconnected from the real world that i feel stupid. How do I save my relationship when I am so lost within myself? -super sad mum xx